The curious start with ProQuest Dialog™ — Imagine having information from the world’s most authoritative publishers, the workflow tools to search, organize, share and manage it in a collaborative way with speed and precision, and the added value of excellent customer support — it’s all yours with the new ProQuest Dialog service. Because, when you have the right information, there are no limits on what you can do.

Keeping up with business and consumer electronics developments can be a sizable task of late. Smartphones, tablets, ebook readers, and all manner of new content consumption devices are demanding our attention. Now, there is another trend to watch: the growing market opportunity for "smartpens," which, rather than enabling content consumption, will facilitate new methods of content input. According to Outsell, Inc.'s new market research report, "2011 Smartpen Landscape Report," we can expect to hear much more about smartpens in the future.

The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA), comprising the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), released a statement describing the key features that copyright reform proposals should include in order to constitute significant improvement over current law for libraries and their patrons.

Elsevier announced the launch of the SciVerse Applications External link Apps for Library Idea Challenge. The international competition encourages librarians and information professionals to conceptualize solutions to the challenges that they and their constituents face in addressing the search and discovery of information.

Gale, part of Cengage Learning, and TheGreenInterview.com, a Canadian subscription website offering information on environmental subjects, announced an agreement to enhance the content of GREENR, Gale's electronic resource offering authoritative reference content in the areas of sustainable development, the environment, energy, and natural resources. TheGreenInterview.com will providie Gale with video interviews covering a range of issues connected to our planet, humans on Earth, damage to our ecosystem, alternative development ideas, sustainability, and more.

My family and friends have long been valued sources of recommendations for that next good read. We eagerly trade paperbacks, and we don't get bent out of shape if our preferences don't always match someone's recommendations. Amazon's recommendations have proven helpful to me over the years (Customers who bought this also …), and sometimes it highlights items I might not have thought of checking. But with the increased interest in ebooks and the phenomenal sales of e-readers, it's worth knowing about some other very helpful sources for book recommendations. There's a growing number of them popping up, and I was quite surprised to find so many when I started digging. Each has its own special strengths, so you might want to check out several.

ITI Blogs

If you regularly read blogs, add these to your reader:

ITI Books Blog – booksblog.infotoday.com – news, observations, and commentary from the authors, editors, and publishers of Information Today, Inc.'s many book offerings.

Library Stuff –librarystuff.net – the library blog dedicated to resources for keeping current and professional development, written by Steven M. Cohen.

InfoToday Europe Blog – infotodayeurope.com – The latest news, analysis and opinion on the information industry in Europe and the UK.

Business of Video blog – blog.streamingmedia.com – Daily posts about the online video industry, business trends and analysis, market data, and research as well as the online video business models in the media and entertainment, broadcast, publishing, advertising and enterprise industries.

destinationCRM Blog – destinationcrmblog.com – a blog from the editors of CRM magazine, dedicated to providing Customer Relationship Management information in a timely manner to connect decision makers and providers.

SpeechTech Blog – speechtechblog.com – updates on speech technology and its applications in daily life. Covers everything from ASR to VUI, with lots of links, threads, and even a few pictures thrown in for good measure.